Terapagos
Today we review the "big deal" epic legendary of Scarlet and Violet, teased by this Mysterious artwork of a turtle-like entity hovering like a gigantic UFO. Properly introduced in the Indigo Disk DLC, it was revealed to be the source of the "terastal energy" behind this generation's gameplay gimmick, which I haven't talked about all that much, but I guess we might give a review of its own.
It also turns out that Terapagos has a smaller default form, which you're stuck with whether you like it or not. I'm personally in the "not" category, unfortunately. It's a lond-limbed blue turtle with a chunky crystal for a body, diamonds where its ears would be and a weird diamond "ponytail" or "topknot" thing on its head, which is all just kinda too goofy and messy looking for my taste, even if the color scheme is really nice, and I kind of like the very "Osamu Tezuka" looking eye design.
You aren't really stuck with the odd little reptile per se, however, because its ability immediately transforms it into its terastal form as soon as it enters battle. An odd gimmick really. Its ability just means that its "default" design can be seen for only seconds? What if you do like the little one a whole lot more? And just how does this really affect gameplay, exactly? Oh well.
Terastal Terapagos is very nice looking. The head and forelimbs are buried in a thick fringe of presumably crystalline "fur," along with a thick fluffy tail to match, with a pleasing aqua blue to green-yellow gradient in official art. This material also forms the dome of the shell, but tiled with pentagonal, deep blue crystal scales that each bear a different Pokemon type symbol.
Terastal Terapagos, in turn, can still be "Terastallized" like any other Pokemon, which transforms it into its stellar form. This is basically just its normal form standing atop its teratal form, which is standing atop an even bigger crystal shell, referencing the ancient concept of a turtle holding up our entire world, and the expression "Turtles all the way Down" - the notion that the turtle holding up our world is held up by another turtle, held up by another turtle, and so forth. This form is always "stellar" type, a typing unique to the Terastallization gimmick. Don't worry! I'm going to give that its own review before we're done.
Terapagos is of course also named after the Galapagos islands, the most iconic inhabitants of which are giant tortoises. One subspecies, the Pinta island tortoise, was famously wiped out down to only one male, Lonesome George, and Terapagos too is said to have gone extinct down to a single individual. In fact, this Pokemon species is programmed with a 50/50 gender ratio, so that you'd have an equal chance of encountering a male or female if they were generated as random wild Pokemon, but the game is scripted to only ever give you a single male specimen, further driving home the connection to poor George.
As a design, I'd say Terastal Terapagos is a beautiful mythical, though there's something about its lore that feels a little underwhelming to me. Kind of "incomplete?" It has the power to transfer objects and creatures between different timelines, which apparently ties in with the Paradox Pokemon and the advanced futuristic technology you can find in the region, but why? The initial impression I got from this Pokemon was a kind of "ark ship" entity that attempts to preserve endangered or extinct Pokemon, and there are definitely hints of that, but it feels like they only really fleshed it out half-way. I'd give the lore a 2 at best, but as a creature, it definitely gets a nice 4 out of me.
Terastal Terapagos is very nice looking. The head and forelimbs are buried in a thick fringe of presumably crystalline "fur," along with a thick fluffy tail to match, with a pleasing aqua blue to green-yellow gradient in official art. This material also forms the dome of the shell, but tiled with pentagonal, deep blue crystal scales that each bear a different Pokemon type symbol.
Terapagos is of course also named after the Galapagos islands, the most iconic inhabitants of which are giant tortoises. One subspecies, the Pinta island tortoise, was famously wiped out down to only one male, Lonesome George, and Terapagos too is said to have gone extinct down to a single individual. In fact, this Pokemon species is programmed with a 50/50 gender ratio, so that you'd have an equal chance of encountering a male or female if they were generated as random wild Pokemon, but the game is scripted to only ever give you a single male specimen, further driving home the connection to poor George.
As a design, I'd say Terastal Terapagos is a beautiful mythical, though there's something about its lore that feels a little underwhelming to me. Kind of "incomplete?" It has the power to transfer objects and creatures between different timelines, which apparently ties in with the Paradox Pokemon and the advanced futuristic technology you can find in the region, but why? The initial impression I got from this Pokemon was a kind of "ark ship" entity that attempts to preserve endangered or extinct Pokemon, and there are definitely hints of that, but it feels like they only really fleshed it out half-way. I'd give the lore a 2 at best, but as a creature, it definitely gets a nice 4 out of me.
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